


Father figure

by horansparkle



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Cute, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-04 03:14:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14010933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/horansparkle/pseuds/horansparkle
Summary: I know its 2am but the kid I am babysitting is crying and you have parental instincts so please for the love of god come over and help me - but in a cute way





	Father figure

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again!  
> I know that this is kind of short but I just started to get back at writing. If y'all have prompts/suggestions please let me know!  
> All the best

“Please, you gotta help me.” 

He thought that something awful had happened. He had ignored it the first time, thinking, hoping actually, that whoever was calling him had had the wrong number and would stop bothering him at two in the morning, but when he tried to ignore it after five times, he thought he’d better answer because calls this early in the moring could only mean something bad was happening. It had only been Niall, a guy living in the same building as his. They had become friends after he overheard Niall complaining to someone about their landlord, and yes, he was pretty awful. He had laughed at a remark Niall had made, and so a conversation started and a friendship was in the make. After that, they sometimes ate together, did grocery shopping together, and when one of them was away, the other would take care of their plants. It wasn’t until a few months ago Harry realised that Niall was sort of georgous and they were getting along really well. They had become proper mates and they started hanging out more, even going as far as introducing each other to their other mates. After Niall came home from work Harry would pop by with a dish he had made and had some left overs, and Niall would show up randomly at his door whenever he wanted to talk or just didn’t want to be alone. 

Now, he had called Harry for an emergancy, as he would dramatically call it that.

“Please Harry, I don’t know what to do and I know you like kids.” 

Niall was currently babysitting his nephew, Theo, but the bugger wouldn’t go to sleep or stop crying because he missed his mum and dad. Harry could indeed hear a faint noise in the background and okay, he thought it could get kind of annoying but did he really need to come over?

“Niall, you’ve watched him so many times, I’m sure you can handle it.”  
“Yes, but never at night! If I had known he would turn into the Antichrist I wouldn’t have agreed to it.” He said, getting sulky.

Harry rolled his eyes but agreed to try to get Theo to at least stop crying, but only for a little bit. He had work in the morning and he did not want to be tired. Niall said a quick cheers and hung up. Sighing, Harry got out of bed. The cold immediately hit him and he let out a groan. He walked over to his bed where ony hours ago he had left his shirt and a pair of sweatpants. He grabbed some socks from his closet and got his phone from the nightstand. As he walked into his small living room – he was only 26 and his job didn’t pay that great – he found a sweater Niall must had left a few days ago and put it on. He was thinking about bushing his teeth but decided not too, Niall wouldn’t notice or care. He slipped on a pair of Converse and went out the door. 

He walked over to the elevator and pressed the number 5. He himself was living on level 3 so he could’ve easily taken the stairs, but it was two in the morning and honestly, he never took them. When he got to the right level, he walked over to Niall’s door and knocked. Almost immediately, as if he was waiting for Harry in his hallway, Niall opened the door with Theo on his arm. 

Niall looked flushed; his cheeks were a whole new shade of red and the collar of his shirt was worn out, as if Theo had been pulling on it the entire night. His sweatpants had stains on them, no doubt from food, and his socks looked comfortable and woolly. Theo was crying loudly and Harry quickly stepped into the house so he could shut the door and his neighbours wouldn’t be disturbed any longer. 

“Thanks for coming.” Niall said as he led the way into the living room. The tv was on but on silent and there were toys everywhere. Harry could see a diaper bag on the coffee table and he almost tripped over a toy car as he made his way to the couch. Niall sat next to him, popping Theo on his lap.

“No worries, now I can see why you wanted someone to come.” Harry said. He reached his arms out, signalling to Niall to pass the crying child onto him.

“Not someone’, Niall said as he gave Harry his nephew, “you. You have parental instincts and all that.” He walked over to his ajoined kitchen and got them a bottle of water and a bottle of milk for Theo. Harry smiled at the what he thought was a compliment, and took the bottle. He put it beside him and turned Theo to face him. He bounced the little kid on his lap, but the crying didn’t stop. 

“Maybe switch off the tv, too many images for his tiny brain.” Harry said. Niall nodded and turned it off. He sat next to him and turned his arm, letting drops milk from the bottle hit his wrist. Harry looked at him. Niall looked so grown up at this moment. There was a lamp on which shone a soft light throughout the living room, hitting Niall’s face in a way that almost looked illuminating. His white shirt helped the image further and his face had returned to its normal color. Except the sound of crying, it was dead silent in the apartment and Harry had to turn away from the sight. Something warm started to flod his stomach, but he didn’t mind it. 

Niall handed him the bottle of milk which Harry tried to give it to Theo, but he wouldn’t take it. Niall sighed and got up, pacing around the room. He had tried everything; giving him milk, food, changing his diaper, giving him toys, turning on the tv, playing some music, but nothing had helped. His last resort was calling Harry. He had seen him with kids a few times and noticed he was rather good with them. At first he was hesitant; it was late, or early depending how you looked at it, and he didn’t want to admit he had no clue about what he was doing. An hour had passed, but he couldn’t stand the crying anymore and finally gave in. He was not surprised when Harry had agreed to help him out, but very grateful. Harry was a good guy and he knew he could rely on him. He looked at the pair sitting on his couch. It was a good sight to see, he had to admit. He drowned out the crying and really took a good look. Harry looked…mature. Of course, he was 26, he was mature, but now, with a small child, he looked… He couldn’t really place it, the feeling that he got when he looked at them, but it just felt right. 

Harry looked up at Niall, who was looking at him deep in thought. As soon as the latter realised, he smiled. 

“So, what do you suggest we do?”   
Harry shrugged.

“What have you tried?”  
“Everything I could think off. I fed him, changed his diaper, gave him toys, music, telly…” He summed up. 

Harry took a good look at Theo again. The little lad must be tired after crying for so long. 

“Where is he sleeping?” 

“In the spare bedroom, I got a small crib there that Denise gave to me.” Niall said. Harry got up and walked through the kitchen to the back of the house where the bedrooms were. Theo’s room was completel dark, and Niall turned on a light as he walked after them into the small room. There was another bag with some clothes and the crib Niall mentioned in the room, nothing else. 

“I’ll just put him down, he is probably tired.” Harry said as he carefully lowered Theo into his little bed. He kept on crying and Harry just sat on the floor next to him. Niall frowned but did the same. 

“And now what?” Niall asked, more like huffed. 

“Now we just wait. Turn off the light.” Harry ordered him. Niall got up again and did as he was told. His eyes took a few seconds to adjust to the darkness before finding his spot next to Harry again. They didn’t say anything and just let Theo fill the silence with his crying. 

The room wasn’t very warm but Niall felt really hot. He could almost feel the skin of his bare arm touching Harry’s. They had been close, ever from the beginning of their friendship, and had no problem sharing personal space. They had seen each other a lot the past few months and Niall was okay with it. He didn’t mind that after a day of work Harry would drop by, as he did the same with him. He liked that he wasn’t alone in his apartment and could actually talk to someone about his day. It only happened once or twice that Harry had spent the night, they had been falling asleep on the couch watching tv and in the morning he would find Harry’s head on his shoulder and he didn’t mind. Harry was the type of person you never felt uncomfortable with and you could just be yourself with, and Niall was grateful for a friend like him. In all honesty, he could have called his brother to ask him what to do about Theo, surely he had known exactly what to do about the situation and it would have been over in a jiffy, but his mind had gone to his friend first. 

Niall was so deep in his mind that he didn’t even notice that the crying was dying down. Harry bumped his arm with him and got up. Niall followed suit and opened the door very carefully. Theo was almost silent, except for a few mumbles, and they left the room without disturbing him. They didn’t say anything as they walked over to the living room, which was still dark except for the one lamp. They sat down on the couch. Harry looked at Niall and realised how tired he looked.

“We did it.” He said as he held up his hand.  
“You did it.” Niall said, high fiving him. Harry shrugged.  
“You should help me more often when I need to watch him. Proper dad you are.” Niall said smiling as he found his water bottle and losened the cap. Harry looked down at his feet and couldn’t stop the blush from rising to his cheeks.

“You did a good job too.” He said softly. Niall looked at him with a grin. And there it was, that warm feeling in his stomach again. He looked at the clock above the tv and saw it was 3:30 in the morning. He wasn’t even tired but it was late, and Niall probably would like to get some sleep now. And yet, he didn’t want to go. He was sure Niall could handle Theo now, but just the thought of leaving didn’t sit right with him.

“Do you need help with cleaning this place up a bit?” He asked instead, but Niall gave him a dismissal wave.

“Don’t worry about it, Theo will make a mess of it in the morning again, I’ll just leave it like this. Besides, you should get some sleep, you got your job in the morning.” 

Harry sighed, but Niall was right. He nodded but made no attempts to actually get up and leave. Niall didn’t mind as he kept in his place as well. He popped his feet up on the coffee table which earned him a disapproving tut from Harry. He laughed and rolled his eyes.

“Thank you for coming over and helping me.” He said, very silently, as if he was ashamed. Harry made himself a bit more comfortable and rested his head on Niall’s shoulder.

“Anytime.” 

They stayed like that for the rest of the night, and they could feel their eyes closing. Not fighting it, they fell asleep like that, with Harry’s head buried against Niall and Niall with his hands across his chest. 

 

The next morning, Harry woke up to the sound of crying again. His neck hurt and he blinked a few times. He immediately recognised Niall’s telly and coffee table and shot up. He got the whole couch to himself and a blanket was wrapped around him. He threw it off, feeling very hot, and looked around to find any sign of Niall, who just walked over to him with Theo in his arms. He had a bottle and Theo wasn’t crying anymore, focused on some toy Niall must have given to him. 

“Good morning.” Niall gave him a small smile as he walked over to an armchair. He sat down and fed Theo, and Harry found it hard to look away.

“Who is the proper dad now? I didn’t even hear him and when I did you already had him.” 

Niall smiled and looked down at his nephew again. Their conversation sounded so parental, as if they had the kid together. Something fluttered in Niall’s stomach.

“I was going to wake you, you have to get ready for work.” Niall said as he nodded at the clock. Harry sighed and nodded, putting on his Converse he couldn’t remember taking off. Niall must have done it for him, just like the blanket. 

Niall got up with him and the pair walked over to the door. It felt kinda awkward because they didn’t want to leave each other, and were desprately looking for a conversation topic. 

“Thanks again.” Niall said and looked at Harry very intensely. The latter found it hard to look away and licked his lips. Niall looked good with Theo in his arms and his hair still ruffled from the sleep they barely got. 

“Anytime.” He had, stepping a bit closer. He wanted to give the smaller lad a hug, but it deemed difficult not to squeeze Theo in the process. He opted for a kiss on the cheek instead, leaving both the guys blushing like mad. 

“Uh, thanks. Theo will get picked up later, if you wanna have dinner?” Niall said, looking at his feet. This time, it didn’t feel as just mates getting dinner. It felt like something more. Both boys were okay with that. 

“Okay, I’ll see you after work.” Harry said, his hand on the doorknob. Niall nodded and picked up Theo’s hand to wave goodbye at Harry. He laughed and gave a special smile at Niall, which the latter returned. Feeling brave, he walked over and turned his body a bit so Theo wouldn’t be trapped between them. He gave him a small peck on the lips. The warmness that both boys felt returned, and when they pulled back there wasn’t fear of rejection, rather an undertsanding. Af if this had been right all along. 

“Ill see you after work then.” Harry said smiling. Niall nodded and waved when Harry left.


End file.
